


Misery Loves Company

by DragovianKnight



Category: Dragon Quest VIII, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-01
Updated: 2010-04-01
Packaged: 2017-10-08 14:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/76440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragovianKnight/pseuds/DragovianKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Persephone is off with her mother. Aphrodite can't stand Hades' moping around, so she drops him off far, far away from home with orders to have fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misery Loves Company

"And don't come back until you've had some fun," Aphrodite said firmly. "Nobody likes a mopey god of the underworld."

She was gone before Hades could protest that he wasn't "mopey". A bit morose, perhaps, but who could blame him, stripped of Persephone's company for the next several months. He sighed. For a Goddess of Love, Aphrodite certainly didn't have a very good grasp of relationships. Perhaps because none of hers had ever been successful.

He glared at the mortal tavern in front of him. He might as well go in, and try to avoid the notice of any local gods who were about; going home would, he was fairly sure, just see him rapidly returned to this spot.

Hades let out a long-suffering sigh and pushed open the door.

***

The entire pub went silent the moment the door opened. Angelo firmly squelched the reflexive desire to slide under the table and make for the back door - Marcello's infrequent visits had had just such an effect on the pub in Simpleton, and a swift, surreptitious exit had always been wise - then, with studied casualness, looked up to see the newcomer.

For a few moments, he couldn't determine anything about the man except that he had a taste for extremely ostentatious black leather armor (not Marcello, then; he would never be so overt). Then he turned from the bar, drink in hand, and Angelo could see his face: young, handsome, and bearing an expression as despondent as Angelo's own mood.

Misery loved company, as they said. Angelo caught the man's eye and raised his glass in a silent salute. With no more invitation than that, the man moved to join him.

***

"...absolutely stunning," Hades said. He was sitting loose-limbed in his chair, extolling the many virtues of his absent wife, but to Angelo's practiced eye, didn't appear to be drunk...at least, not on anything but his maudlin temperament. Hades sighed longingly. "Truly a goddess."

Well, that was something Angelo could relate to, at the moment. He finished his glass and signaled for another drink, having no intention of remaining sober himself. "Jessica," he said, carefully, trying not to appear as drunk as he was, "is very stubborn."

Wait, that didn't sound flattering at all, and it seemed far too much effort to explain why it was part of her appeal. "Her hair," he tried again, "is like...fire. Fiery as her magic." He grinned a little. "Or her temper."

"She sounds..." Hades went silent when Angelo glared at him, then finished, "unlike Persephone. Persephone is..." He spread his hands, palms down. "Still. Like water. She has depths I may never see." He sniffed and took another drink. "Particularly if her _mother_ keeps interfering the way she does."

Angelo made a sound of commiseration. "Mothers," he growled, and applied himself to his latest drink. "A trial to every wedded man."

Hades looked at him sympathetically. "Your Jessica can't defy hers, either, stubborn as she is?"

"Rosalind is...well. She's where Jessica gets it all, good and ill." He didn't add that Jessica was still more than capable of defying her mother when it suited her; instead, he took another drink.

"Sounds like Demeter. Overbearing bi...you know, she threatened to destroy the world when Persephone and I wed."

Angelo snorted. "I expect Rosalind wishes she could have threatened that when Jessica announced she was marrying me."

Their eyes met, and, in perfect accord, man and god downed their drinks and called for more.


End file.
